Worked has commenced on the Goyder Institute’s Northern Corridor research program, the primary driver for which is the Northern Economic Plan, the South Australian Government’s blueprint for a prosperous northern Adelaide, focused on creating jobs and empowering local communities.

The Sustainable Expansion of Irrigated Agriculture and Horticulture in Northern Adelaide Plains project, led by Acting Research Chief of Sustainable Systems SARDI, Professor Jim Cox, will address how available water resources in the region could be best used to optimise the development of industries in a sustainable way and not result in long term environmental problems.

This project will address the following areas of investigation:

• How can the range of water sources available to the area be delivered, stored and combined to provide the required quantities of water at the quality required for the most likely new industries?
• Which areas of in the Northern Corridor are most suitable for new irrigation industries and how should irrigation in these areas be managed to avoid causing long-term adverse impacts on the condition of soils, groundwater and the surface water environments?

Specific outcomes from the project will include collation of current knowledge on the impacts of using recycled water, and stormwater and groundwater of various quality for irrigation; and filling key research gaps identified at various stakeholder-researcher workshops as holding back economic development (related to expansion of irrigated horticulture) along the Northern Adelaide Corridor (defined as the coastal plains region between northern Adelaide and Whyalla).

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